Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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Liu Menglong was naturally in this huge procession for the sacrificial ceremony. He and several other officials, who were also considered the top leaders of the "special zone," were in the same line. After a few polite words, the grievance session began.

David's "special zones" are all places with extremely developed industry and commerce, and because they are special zones, they are all highly staffed. They are not just a bunch of clerks, but a bunch of officials. Just managing these officials is a problem.

Moreover, such places usually have a bunch of troublesome rich people. The reason they are troublesome is that they are either related to superhumans or are superhumans themselves. In addition to the troublesome rich people, there are also a bunch of academies and martial arts schools that are closely connected with the local gentry. The academies that claim to "win people over with virtue" and the martial arts schools that aim to "defend the way with swords" often interfere in local government affairs.

Special economic zones are inherently rife with administrative affairs, making them far more difficult to govern than places that are nominally county towns but are essentially just markets and rural areas. Add to that a whole host of troublesome people, and being the top leader here is truly a nightmare.

After chatting for a while, the group realized that Liu Menglong didn't complain much.

A strong sense of curiosity arose in my heart.

So everyone looked intently at Liu Menglong, asking him if he had any secrets.

What did Liu Menglong say? Did he say that Ronan had taken care of everything for him? That's impossible.

He could only say that the team of staff he had brought in from his hometown was able to handle political affairs and personnel matters very well for him.

The group of colleagues nodded in agreement, saying little, because they simply didn't believe it. Which of them hadn't hired a team of advisors? Would it even have been effective?

Liu Menglong, to use a Beijing proverb, is somewhat unethical.

These people were unaware of Ronan's existence. Only the locals in Foshan, some people in Guangdong, and high-ranking officials of the imperial court knew about Ronan and his group.

For the first couple of days, he would complain, and once they got to know each other, they would start talking about fun things.

After all, he was an official. Even if he was overwhelmed by government affairs, he still had to enjoy himself. Fine food, fine wine, and beautiful women were all indispensable to him.

Upon hearing that Liu Menglong had only one wife and one concubine, no mistresses, and had never attended any elegant gatherings, a group of colleagues felt that Liu Menglong was a bit too honest.

“Brother Menglong, you are at the prime of your life and have an excellent background. You should have more children, and more talented ones. And it’s best if they aren’t all your wife’s children, otherwise she will cause a huge uproar.”

"That's not true. My brother only has one talented child, although his talent is really low. But his wife has him completely under her thumb just because she gave birth to this one son. I'm different. My talented son was born to a mistress. He was raised by his birth mother before he came into the family. She definitely won't be able to be arrogant then."

"Alas, I didn't understand this principle when I was young."

"You're just being hypocritical after getting the benefits. I have three sons and two daughters, none of whom are talented. I have no choice but to find a son-in-law to live with me."

"These days, it's not easy to find a son-in-law who lives with his wife's family."

“You’re doing well, at least you have a daughter to marry into. I only have a son, and he’s not talented. It’s really hard to find a talented woman.”

The group couldn't help but sigh deeply.

Those who became the top leaders of the special economic zones, like Liu Menglong, all came from prominent families in the south. They were all born into families with inherited talents, and those who rose to power with Mao Zedong at the founding of the country were either from ancient families that had reverted to their ancestral ways and whose bloodlines had become strong again, or from newly emerging families with strong bloodlines.

However, more than a hundred years have passed since the founding of the country, and several generations have gone by, so the ability of bloodlines to be passed down has begun to weaken.

It's not because of being pampered and complacent; the cyclical rise and fall of summoning magic inheritance ability is a natural law.

Hearing these words, he couldn't help but think of his second child, who should already be born, wondering if it was a boy or a girl, and whether it had any special talents.

In the latter half of the meeting, the group of VIPs from the Special Administrative Region became quite familiar with each other and quieted down. They had already discussed everything they could talk about, and the remaining political topics, especially those related to the current situation, were off-limits.

They are not those young officials who have just entered the officialdom and have no foothold. They all have their own stance, and there are some things that are not worth talking about, nor do they dare to talk about.

On the other hand, Lu Jianling, who was traveling to Beijing with Liu Menglong, looked much more relaxed.

Although she was a local military officer, she was not in the same unit as other local military officers. Instead, because she was a woman, she was assigned to the guard team to protect the imperial concubines.

Although Lu Jianling was not sociable, did not scheme, did not embezzle, and did not enslave soldiers, and was usually approachable and could tell jokes, she was not the kind of officer who shared weal and woe with the soldiers and became one of them. She was a typical officer from an aristocratic background, who paid attention to her appearance and enjoyed life even when marching and fighting.

She also has the means; her family's low social standing is only relative. Even after her parents passed away and the family divided their property, she still owns a stone quarry, a farm, a winery, and a thousand acres of salt fields.

It's easy to understand if you think about it. Her biological father ran away with her father-in-law back then. Would an ordinary person have the qualifications to run away with a general?

So, along the way, Lu Jianling mostly talked about women's affairs with a group of women. These women in the harem relied entirely on the emperor's rewards for their income. Was the emperor rich? Yes, but not much. Most of these concubines were not as wealthy as Lu Jianling, and on the other hand, he couldn't treat them all equally in that area, let alone give them the best tributes.

Many of the women in the imperial harem were indeed not as well off as Lu Jianling in terms of food, clothing, and daily necessities.

Then of course we can talk about it.

Despite their conversation, Lu Jianling's mind was elsewhere.

She wasn't naive or simple-minded; she had already realized that her eldest son was deceiving her and concealing some secrets from the prescription. Her second son had been acting even stranger lately, and she didn't know what he was up to. Even her third son was behaving strangely, suddenly becoming much more silent than before.

But the three sons were all in harmony, covering for each other, which was definitely the result of collusion.

If it were just a minor family matter, she could ignore it for the time being, but this is not as simple as a family matter.

“Liu Menglong? No, that’s not him. He doesn’t seem to understand either. It’s that group of foreigners. Those foreigners know something.” Lu Jianling couldn’t help but slap his forehead, annoyed that he had only just realized it.

If she had realized what was happening then and asked that clerk, Mr. Luo, she might not be in such a passive position now.

"This is troublesome," Lu Jianling sighed inwardly. "Hopefully, I can stay out of this."

Currently, the most prevalent theory is that the emperor has mastered the two miraculous technologies of "talent transplantation" and "cultivation transfer," and he intends to use them as leverage to divide and conquer factions, establish his authority, and gradually seize power. If that were all, she could easily remain uninvolved; her father-in-law wasn't deeply involved in factional struggles, and she herself was merely a border region general.

But the situation doesn't seem to be that simple.

Chapter 811 The goal is a republic, it must have distinctive features, everything is for the purpose of rebellion.

Let's go back to October, the day the emperor left the capital, in Foshan.

Ronan and Alice walked on the streets of Foshan.

"You're having another episode today, aren't you?" Alice said in an unfriendly tone. She thought Ronan had called her over for something important, but it turned out he wanted her to go shopping.

Ronan was already used to Alice's tone. "You've worked hard for half a year and finally finished your work. You should relax a bit."

"Finished? I don't think so." Alice disagreed. In her opinion, the bureaucracy in Foshan was extremely corrupt. Ronan's arrival had not improved the situation at all; on the contrary, it had exacerbated it. Because of the full-scale expansion of the industry, some officials who couldn't be corrupt before could now be corrupt, and a lot of "temporary workers" had been recruited. These thugs were no good either.

The situation in Foshan was almost identical to that of the Kingdom of Fas. The economy began to develop rapidly, but only a small number of workers saw their lives improve. The lives of the lower-class farmers did not improve at all, and for some, they even got worse. They had no choice but to come to the city to work, but they could not become formal employees, their income was meager, and they had no way out.

Ronan sighed helplessly, "Can't you just stop thinking about those things?"

Alice crossed her arms and said, "It's not like I'm so eager to think about these things. It's just that you want to participate in the rebellion. If we really want to rebel, we can't let this bunch of incompetent and corrupt officials live."

"A corrupt official is a corrupt official, but to say he's incompetent is slander," Ronan replied with a smile. He had to admit that the officials in the Foshan Coastal Defense Subprefecture were capable.

“These past few days, I’ve read some of the history books about Seres. If it’s just about changing dynasties, that’s fine. But if it’s about ushering in a new era, I’m afraid they can’t do it,” Alice said. “If it’s just about helping people change dynasties, neither I nor they have any interest in it, and you probably don’t either. Yes, you do.”

The women already knew about the rebellion.

“Haha, that’s true.” Ronan laughed. Indeed, if they didn’t come up with something new, Dinia, Isabelle, and the others wouldn’t be interested in getting involved in this kind of thing at all.

"What are you really thinking?" Alice asked.

“First, install someone in power, then turn Seris into a republic,” Ronan said.

"The kind of Venaya we used to be?" Alice asked.

“Of course not,” Ronan denied.

In the early days, Vena was "Rome," and an aristocratic republic was not suitable for the current situation in Seres. Besides, there are many forms of republic, and it will definitely have to be a distinctive republic that fits the current situation in Seres.

In any case, a centralized ruler is essential for a country like Seris; otherwise, Seris would not be Seris.

Moreover, abolishing the imperial system is actually much easier in this world.

Because the emperor of Seris in this world is not the undisputed Son of Heaven. The reason is simple: apart from a few emperors who founded and revived their dynasties, most emperors are not very good at cultivation. You can say that you are not as good as those who are exceptionally talented and focused on cultivation, but you are not even as good as those officials. So how can you be considered the undisputed Son of Heaven?

If it weren't an imperial system, but rather a presidency, then there would be no need for such a sacred title as "Son of Heaven."

Western kings, on the other hand, are not inherently sacred; at most, they hold the title of religious protector. The sacred aspects are in the hands of the church, and the sanctity of the church has never been entirely in the hands of the pope alone.

"I see." Alice still didn't understand what Ronan was thinking, but at least she knew that Ronan was going to put some idealism into practice this time, and her mood instantly brightened. "Let's go, let's go to the temple for a vegetarian meal."

"What?" Ronan exclaimed in surprise.

“I said I’m a vegetarian,” Alice emphasized again.

"No way." Ronan came out intending to eat meat.

"Fine, if you don't want to go, then forget it." Alice's attitude was quite firm.

"Okay, okay, I'll stay with you today, you're the boss," Ronan agreed.

Meanwhile, Falek, Faith, and Canaan were visiting the settlement of the Celestial Church.

Their current goals are twofold: one is to train people to master and transfer their talents and cultivation techniques, and the other is to focus on the people of the Ship Country, who are trustworthy.

Another task was to build a production line for magic guns and magic armor. This couldn't be done by relying on the locals of Seris, and they couldn't recruit many Westerners from India either, so they set their sights on the Muslims.

Although most of the Muslims here are merchants, there are quite a few who are good at math and have decent craftsmanship. These people can be used, and the Muslims live in concentrated communities here, making it easy for them to hide.

For the Islamic people, as long as you can persuade their "scholars," who are called "imams" by Seris, things will go very smoothly.

Falek is a professional at persuading scholars. If she couldn't persuade a bunch of scholars back then, could she, a woman in the court, have ordered the army to kill the old Sultan's other sons and put this young man, who originally had no power, on the throne?

As for Faith, she's here to play the bad cop. She's a religious figure, and currently, the Seven Saints Sect's influence in Guangdong is relatively weak. But if Faith comes along and stirs things up, creating a Seven Saints Sect with its own unique characteristics, then the Seven Saints Sect will quickly flourish and begin to spread like wildfire.

As for Canaan, she mainly served as a technical guide. There used to be Zoroastrians in Seris, but they no longer exist.

Convincing the people of the Celestial Cult is certainly not something that can be accomplished in one or two days, nor is it something they are in a hurry to do.

If you can successfully freeload food and drinks on your first visit, that's a good start.

Meanwhile, Isabel also began training the recruited girls. Although the courses were mainly taught by Astrid, who had even learned the local dialect, Yang Nian was also brought in and became the class monitor.

Meanwhile, Dinia took over Ronan's previous work.

Diniya became an intermediary between local officials and business tycoons in Foshan.

Elena and Agustina went back to their old professions, which was managing farmers and workers.

Elena didn't understand Seris agriculture, nor did she know much about Seris farmers, and neither did Agustina, who didn't understand Seris artisans.

However, the two women had an advantage that the Seres people did not: they understood agriculture and manufacturing under a commodity economy.

The people of Seres are not very skilled in the financial field, even in Guangdong.

While Elena had a relatively low level of education, she had a wealth of work experience. Initially, she was Ronan's "black glove" (a term used to describe someone who is not highly educated but has extensive work experience). After the establishment of the special city, she participated in the management of the collective farm. After going to the colony, she became the "white glove" (someone who is not highly educated but has extensive work experience), responsible for overseeing various processing plants. After Ronan and Ambrina married, she initially worked as a secretary, handling business administration. Later, she went to the farmers' association, focusing on agricultural and livestock credit work.

What she wants to do is to initiate the commercialization of agricultural products in Guangdong.

What Agustina wants to do is to further unite the various local manufacturing chambers of commerce to form a united front and extend its influence throughout the Guangdong region.

They manipulated the economy of a region to prepare for rebellion.

Chapter 812 Sacrificing to Heaven, Then Torture, The Time Has Come

December 21st, Winter Solstice.

At six o'clock in the morning, before dawn, the grand sacrificial ceremony to Heaven, held once every five years in Luoyang, had not yet begun, but all those participating in the ceremony had already taken their places.

Outside the outer wall surrounding the massive altar, eight thousand imperial guards were divided into four groups, each guarding a different direction. Inside the wall, another two thousand imperial guards provided protection.

Of course, they couldn't actually protect anything at all.

Although they were mostly elite Imperial Guards, the vast majority were just "scholar soldiers" below the rank of Zhengshi. They were only superior to ordinary people in terms of physical fitness and had some means of enhancing their spiritual power, attack and defense. A few junior officers were at the Zhengshi level, around the first or second rank.

For true masters, killing them would only take slightly longer than killing ordinary people, at most their own endurance wouldn't be able to keep up. For truly top-tier masters, that is, sixth or even seventh rank, they are no different from ordinary people. And for the very best of the best, like Dinia, they could be wiped out in the blink of an eye.

The officials on this trip, whether civil or political, were all quite skilled.

As for the invited representatives of gentry and celebrities, they were all highly skilled.

Inside the inner circle were three thousand honor guard members. These were purely for show; they were dressed in magnificent and imposing clothes, and most of them were tall and handsome, looking like top-notch experts, but in reality, they were all ordinary people.

Besides the 13,000 people, there were 2,000 people present. These 2,000 people were the ones who actually participated in the sacrificial ceremony to Heaven. They included the emperor, members of the royal family, representatives of the imperial clan, civil and military officials, nobles, gentry and celebrities, and so on.

As for the other five thousand or so people, they did not come here. These people had come all the way to serve the nobles, and were responsible for the logistics of the Imperial Guards and the ceremonial guards. They were just government servants, or some household servants, and temporary laborers. They were not qualified to enter the place of sacrificial ceremony.

In fact, normally, a grand sacrificial ceremony wouldn't be held with such a grand scale. Twenty thousand people traveled from Beijing to Luoyang, receiving high-level hospitality along the way, which cost far too much money.

Moreover, bringing so many officials along would also delay national affairs.

But this is the first time since the current emperor ascended the throne, so such a grand display is entirely understandable.

Moreover, everyone now knows that the emperor is going to take this opportunity to make a big move. If he's going to make a big move, how can he not have all the important officials in the central government present? The elite forces of the Imperial Guards protecting the capital must also be taken away, otherwise what if a group of people refuse to acknowledge the emperor and establish a new emperor in the capital?

It was seven o'clock, and dawn broke.

The music begins, and after the first piece ends, the long and tedious eulogy is recited.

At this moment, Liu Menglong was very relaxed because he now completely understood what the emperor wanted to do. Talent transplantation and cultivation transfer were nothing to him, because he had seen them before.

This was because this was the method Ronan had used to win over some officials and businessmen in Foshan, and Ronan had not hidden it from him.

Liu Menglong was relaxed, but Lu Jianling was not.

After entering the area, she tried to sense and find anything unusual. However, there were just too many extraordinary individuals here, and their auras were mixed together, so she couldn't sense anything at all.

The less she could sense it, the more worried she became, because she was certain that things weren't so simple, yet she had absolutely no idea what would happen.

The unknown is always the easiest thing to evoke fear.

The ritual of offering sacrifices to Heaven was extremely complicated and lengthy. For most of the hours, the participants had to stand still. For officials who were used to enjoying themselves, the magnificent music and the grand speeches were fine at first, but after a while, they all became nonsense. What they looked forward to the most was the part of the ritual where they had to kneel and worship, because they could move around a bit and even take the opportunity to scratch an itch.